Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Story last updated at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, 2006

UT Press stops sales of Civil War book after plagiarism alleged

The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee Press has halted sales of a Civil War book by an adjunct history professor following plagiarism claims by another author, who contends the book contains "uncredited material" and even repeats a bibliography mistake.

New Hampshire author William Marvel said Dr. R. Fred Ruhlman's book, "Captain Henry Wirz and Andersonville Prison: A Reappraisal" published Aug. 31, borrows heavily from his own work on the subject as well as from other authors.

Marvel, an acclaimed author of Civil War histories, said he discovered the similarities when reviewing Ruhlman's book for the Georgia Historical Quarterly in October. Ruhlman teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

"I would characterize the extent as 'pages and pages' of text that has been lightly rearranged and doctored to appear original, and without counting the work of other historians that he has appropriated," Marvel said in an e-mail.

"In one instance I found him repeating the only bibliographic error in my entire book, and it would be incredibly coincidental for him to have made that transcription error through his own research," Marvel wrote.

Ruhlman said in a UT Press news release that he's innocent of willful plagiarism but acknowledged oversights in crediting the work of Marvel.

"I feel very bad about this," Ruhlman said. "If I had done this deliberately, it would have been academic suicide because Marvel is an authority on this. He would have been asked to review this. I'm reaching out to Mr. Marvel with an apology."

Marvel said the volume of questionable material is troubling.

"I certainly don't consider it a merely technical violation and find it impossible to believe it was unintentional," Marvel said.

UT Press acquisitions editor Scot Danforth said sales of Ruhlman's book, his first, have been suspended pending review by university legal counsel.

Meanwhile, Ruhlman said he plans to continue writing and will "bite the bullet" next time and hire a professional editor when writing a book.